Airship



.Aug. 7 1945.

J. D. *LANGDON AIR SHIP Filed Sept. 20 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENIOR ljggdoh v, S ATTORNEY- Aug. 7, 5-. J.ID.ILANGD\ON AIRSHIP Filed Sept. 20, 1941 s Shets-Sheet 2 L INVENTOR sse D. a on ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 7, 1945 s 1 rA'rE NT-j OFFICE Y: Jesse D. I ia'ngdomDowney, Calif.

My present invention relates to airships, and

more particularly to'an improved heavier-thanair airship.

My'invention contemplates the use of a centripetal propeller in combination with a bullet-shaped fuselage and nacelle whereby the movement of the air past the fuselage isstream-lined' and a rocketingfefiect is produced. I

A feature of my invention is the use of a propelle'rfor radially drawing the air inwardly and projecting the air rearwardly of the airship to thereby reduce the. head-on impact and frictional resistance of the airship passing through the atbs h r further feature of my inventionis the use of a short fuselage capable of housing an engine in while the airship is in flight.

- such a manner as to facilitate repa'irsthereto 'A further fe'ature'of m invention is the provision of a fuselage adaptedto carry an engine at approximately the center'of gravity of the airship. A further feature is the provision of means for is'uper'cha'rging the interior of an airship fuselage hypmeans of the driving propeller.

l A furtherfeature of my invention is a fuselage fin which may be concentrated andbalan'ced a pay load of an airship at about the wing center of the air ship and in definite balancing relation with respect to the center of gravity of the airship.

A further feature of myinvent'ion is the provision of wings adapted to be folded to lie lengthwise of the end at each side of the airplane fuselage to thereby cover a revolving propeller and to thus convert the airship into asafe air-propelled 1 road vehicle.

e .A still further feature of y invention is the provision of sectional wing casings of maximum externalsmoothness and capable of quick replacem nt- A still further feature of my .inventionis the improved construction of thepilots roomwhereby maximum range of visibility from within the fuse- I lage isprovidedo Further features of my invention willappearas the description of the invention progresses... In the accompanying drawings: i

' Fig.-1 is a top plan view of anairship embodyingmy invention; e

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure shown in 1 and illustrating in dotted lines the portion of the wings in folded position;

Application September 20, 1941, Serial N 0. 411,616

' 3 cla s." (01. 244 1 24) propeller utilized in connection with thestructure shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3;

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of e an airplane embodying my invention and adapted as an amphibian; 1

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 9; and

Fig. 11 is a sectional end elevation taken on the line ll llf of Fig.'l0. I i 1 1 Referring to the drawings, I0 designates the fuselage provided with a hemispherical nose II comprised of a plurality of panels [2 of Cellophane or other suitable form of flexible glass-like 'material held between radial supporting ribs l3 and I4. There are two of the ribs i l-diametrically arranged with respectto each other as seen in Fig. 3; and such ribs are split and attached together by hinge' 15 to permit half of the hemispherical nose to swing open and thereby permit entry to the fuselage Ill and cockpit or pilots cabin in which islocated the pilots seat I6 and controls I! mounted on an outrigger I801. attached to the structure'of the fuselage I0, and projecting IFig1-3is a front elevation of the structure shown in Fig??? r "Flatt-is a front elevation 'of the centripetal forwardly into the transparent nose II to thereby provide maximum visibility for the pilot. Secured to and forming part of the fuselage l0 are stabilizingkeels I8;secured to the lower partof the bodyparallelly arranged with respect to each other and spaced 'apartat any suitable distance. The forward ends of the stabilizing keels l8 are substantially flush with the fuselage, while the rear or trailing ends, are almost entirely exposed and thus act as stabilizing surfaces. Preferably the stabilizing keels IB' are formed of flattened tubular metal stock, although any other approved material is satisfactory. In addition to the stabilizing keels l8, which may be called the vertically arranged stabilizing keels, I provide on either side of the fuselage the horizontally arranged stabilizing keels l9, such stabilizing keels also having the forward ends substantially flush with the fuselage, while the rear or trailingends are almost entirely exposed to thereby act as stabilizing surfaces.

Rear-ward of 'andcontiguous to the horizontally arranged-"stabilizing keels I 9 aretwowid'e sta- Fig. 5.

bilizing surfaces 20 disposed across the slip stream area of the centripetal propeller 2|. Associated with the stabilizing surfaces 20 is the flipper stabilizer 30. The fuselage is provided with the usual landing wheels 3| and with a rudder wheel 32.

The propeller 2! has its axis or main shaft 22 attached to the drive shaft of a motor 23, located within an engine chamber formed by a rear bulkhead 24 and a forward bulkhead 25. Suitable connections between the motor 23 and propeller main shaft 22, as well as suitable controls between the motor 23 and pilot controlled mechanism therefore, are provided by such mechanism, but have not been illustrated and need not be further referred to.

The propeller, in addition to the main shaft 22 thereof, has radially extending out from such main shaft the blades 26, to the outer ends of,

which are connected the rims 21. Extending between therims 21, which are spaced apart from each other, are the vanes or blades 28. The blades 26 are provided with helical propeller surfaces with the greatest incidence disposed at the outer ends where they are attached to the rims 2'1 and thus tend to aid the blades 28 in moving the air radially inwardly from the circumference of the propeller 2i and thence outwardly and rearwardly. The forward end of the propeller 2| may also have the inner portions of the blades 26 disposed so as to force air under pressure into the interior of the nacelles of the fuslage lying forward of the bulkhead 25.

The propeller blades 25 may have their angle adjusted to thereby vary the pitch by the construction shown in Fig. 8. In such figure, 55 and 56 are propeller rims provided with slots 51 and 58, respectively, through which extends an adjusting pin 59 attached to the end of apropeller blade. By properly positioning the adjusting pin 59 in the slots 51 and/or 58 the pitch of the propeller blade 26 may be varied.

If desired, an impeller may be located forward of the nose of the ship and driven from a shaft from the mot-or 23 to force air radially outward from the hemispherical nose I I, thus greatly increasing the efliciency of the airship in the matter of speed. The supercharging of the nacelles in the fuselage it may be confined to a the engine room formed between the bulkheads 24 and 25, or shutters may be provided in the forward bulkhead 25, whereby'the forward cabin may be supercharged at will.

Associated with the fuselage ID are the wings 29. The wings 29 are pivotally'and removably connected from the fuselage and are so constructed as to lie alongside of the sides of the fuselage whereby the side wings may be housed to permit the entire apparatus to be converted into a road machine. The wings 29 are provided at their ends with the tip stabilizers 33.. Preferably, in the construction of the wings 29 are utilized three tubular spars 34, 35 and 36, see The spar 34' is located in the leading edge of the wings, spar 35 runs longitudinally through the center of the wings, and spar 3B inside the trailing edge of each wing. The proximal ends of the spars 34, 35 and 36 are secured to wing abutment'frame 3'1 and proximal panel 38, see Fig. 6, an abutment member 39, connected 2 'to abutmentframe 31 by member 40, being adapted to interlock with binder pin 40 and flanged locking member 4| which enters orifice 42. The wing abutment frame 31 at the end thereof remote from the member 40 is provided with a binder pin 53 which cooperates with a locking socket 54 in the side of the fuselage Ill.

The spars 34, 35 and 36 are built up by a series of tubes 43, see Fig. 5, which telescope into one another against abutting flanges or shoulders 44 which have impinged between them a pair of oppositely flanged panel ribs 45 and oppositely disposed flanges 46 around the outer edges. Said flanges 46 are disposed away from one another to support casing panels 41 which are made of sheet material bent into a U shape with flanges 48 turned inwardly around both edges of the U and at right angles to the flat panel material, these flanges 48 being forced between the panel ribs 45 and the open ends of the U shaped panel 41. These members are brought together and secured at the trailing edge of the wing by riveting, welding or any other suitable manner, thus it will be seen that a perfectly smooth surface is provided around the leading edge and upper and lower surfaces of the wing, the casing panels being locked in position between the flanged panel ribs 45.

A cable or rod 43 is secured at the far end of each spar 34, 35 and 36 furthest from the fuselage and carried through the tubular spars 34, 35 and 36 to the end of the wing adjacent to the fuselage I9 and adjustably attached to the proximal panel 38, see Fig. 6, which is held together by rivets 53. When the rods or .cables 49 are tightened, Fig. 5, the tubes 43, flange panel ribs 45 and flanges of the casing panels 41 are all drawn together between the flanges or shoulders 44, making asecurely interlocked wing structure. Bolts or rivets 5| may be used for additional strength if desired.

The trailing edge of the wings 29 have tapered ailerons 52 in addition to the stabilizing tip 33 at the ends of the wings. These ailerons and tips provide against flat spinning of the airship and give the ship a wide range of maneuverability for gliding purposes. It will be noted that the compact, balanced, short body of the airship, together with the wing and control surfaces above described makes an ideal glider structure aiding greatly to the safety factor of the device.

Due to the comparatively short length of the fuselage 10 a very compact and roomy body and cabin are for-med so that practically all of the engine weight and pay load is located amidships and at the center of gravity. This form of structure greatly enhances the safety of the airship, as it is particularly well balanced for gliding purposes; the ship being neither tail nor head heavy in case of stalling.

The location of the seat 16 projecting forwardly into the hemispherical nose ll provides a maximum range of visibility for the pilot, A vision range of more than 340 degrees is thereby attained, about 40 degrees being obstructed by the circle of the nose 'I I.

Referring now to Figures 9, l0 and 11, wherein is shown anamphibian plane embodying my invention l0 designates fuselage of the same general shape and type of the fuselage shown in Figures 1 fuselage 10, the wings may be attached to the fuselage in thesame manner as the win s 29 illustrated in Figures l and 2 so as to permit said wings to be folded alongside; of the fuselage 10,

not necessarily when the device is on a road but when it is desired toanchor the amphibian in a narrow causeway.

In this modification of my device, the bottom;

' part of the fuselage I0,pilots cabin 1|, andpr'or' peller 2| with its casing are partially enclosed by Q the hull 13 of sufiicient free board to insure sta 'bility when the structure is in the water and afloat. The structure is provided with front land ing wheels 14 and I and the trailing -.wheel l l which is housed in the lower end of the rudder 32, and the hull 1-3 and fuselage lflare provided with chambers, which chambers are open only at the bottom and thus prevent water from passing a into the interior of the hull 13. Because or the .type of propeller used, that is a centrifugal propeller," the full efliciency thereof is not obtained seemingly no effect on the driving 'andioperating qualities, as the propeller is completely open rearwardly.

.Whereas I have described my invention by reierence to specific forms thereof, it will-be'understood that many changes and modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit of the invention.

lclaimz' I i 1. A win'g structure comprising tubular-spars v made of assembled longitudinally tubular. sec- "tions,'each section flanged outwardly between its I when the structure is designed as an amphibianv plane, but the degree to which the maximum'efllciency iscut down is so smallas to be practically V negligible, and the cutting down of the power has v ture; paneled wing surfacing segments extending between thepairs of ribs and being made of suitable sheet material having flanges turned inwardly and runninglongitudinally of the edge of each segment, the covering segments being of suitable width corresponding with the spaced relationship of each pair of, ribs, the outer surfaces of inwardly turned flanges of the segments abutting one another and held between each pair of ribs by the flanges of the telescopic sections which are urged toward one another by tension means extendinglongitudinally of the spars and thus clamping the adjoining faces of the inwardly disposed, flanges in close contact with and against one another, the edges of each segment being secured together rearwardly of the wing section and forming a trailing edge for the wing, the inwardly projecting flange of each segment of the wing being, urged edgewis'e inwardly of the wing and" joined together at the rear edge of the wing and .means joining the rear of the wing section ends and'telescopically conjoined-with the adjacent sections of the spar, the spaced relationship of the adjoining sections limited bythe'flanged' structure or, each section between its ends, to.

V limit thetelescopic insertion of one section into another, each section being passed thru a pair of flanged ribs convergently embraced by and be-,

tween the. two ribs which lay, parallel to one' ana other transversely of the spars and wing structog'ether.

2. 'An airship provided with a wing structure as defined by claim 1, said airship being provided with a fuselage, and means for flexibly conjoining said wingstructure with fuselage whereby said wing structure is cushioned against shocks and stresses of flight and the engineand propeller torque.

3. Asub-combination of the invention including a wing structure forming a framework to support an airplane wing, comprising longitudinally disposed spars constructed of flanged secs tions telescoped together end to end, ribs extending transversely of said longitudinally disposed spars, the spars extending thru said transverse ribs spaced by the flanges of said telescopic sec-' 

